89 percent of organisations are planning to implement AI in next 12 months.

Representational Image. (AFP)

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Asia Pacific economies stand to realise the productivity gains offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. According to new research from global data and storage firm Seagate Technology, 96 percent of senior IT professionals believe AI applications will drive productivity and business performance. However, an almost equal number of respondents (95%) believe further investments in their IT infrastructure are required to enable them to support their use of AI.

The Seagate research, “Data Pulse: Maximising the Potential of AI”, explores the varying readiness levels of AI adoption and implementation by business segments across key markets in Asia Pacific (APAC) as well as the opportunities and challenges faced by organisations when looking to incorporate AI applications. The study identified 89 percent of organisations plan to implement AI technologies in the next 12 months, in areas within the organisation including IT, supply chain logistics, product innovation and R&D, as well as finance and customer support. However, two-thirds of respondents indicated they struggled to know where to start.

Despite robust adoption of AI technologies in the region, the report found that a significant number of organisations have not invested in the data and the technical solutions required to support the technology fully. 89% of the respondents are planning to implement AI solutions, but 31% do not think enough is being invested. One in five organisations indicated they were not ready or able to handle the increasing data streams from the use of AI applications. Further, while 95 percent of respondents believe there is an increasing need for robust data storage solutions with growing AI applications, 15 percent say they have not invested sufficiently in data storage to be ready for AI now or in the future.

• 96% of respondents in APAC believe that AI applications will drive productivity and business performance
• 74% of respondents have already begun implementing AI solutions, with 89% indicating they will implement AI technologies in the next 12 months
• 70% of organisations agree AI will have a significant impact on their industry within three years
• 95% of respondents believe there is an increasing need for robust data storage solutions with growing AI applications, yet 15% say they have not invested sufficiently in data storage to be ready for AI now or in the future
• 94% of the respondents agree that data security is critical for AI, yet more than 10% do not update and review their data security strategy regularly

The study also identified key challenges to the AI implementation as the following:

• Nearly all respondents (90%) have implemented AI in one or more areas of their business – one of the highest in the region (vs. 74% in APAC). These areas include IT (83%); Customer Support (46%); Product Innovation/R&D (42%); and Supply Chain/Logistics (38%).
• Almost everyone is planning to use or adopt more AI solutions in the next 12 months (99%).
• 80% believe AI will have an apparent impact on their industries within 3 years.
• 96% believe AI solutions will generate an increasing amount of data, and nearly all respondents (95%) believe there is an increasing need for robust data storage solutions.
• Most respondents struggle to know where and how to start their organisation’s development and implementation of AI (75%), and almost everyone agrees that they could do more if they had the right AI talent (97%).

It is estimated by IDC that the global datasphere subject to data analysis, may grow by a factor of 50 to 5.2ZB in 2025, and the amount of analysed data that is processed by machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence may grow by a factor of 100 to 1.4 ZB in 2025. Being able to expand network storage capacity quickly and cost-effectively without disrupting service level agreements is critical in today’s world of data. Already US$39 billion has been invested in AI worldwide, with Asia Pacific spending to reach US$4.6 billion by 2021.